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Samsung 4K Ultra HD HU8550 Series

The future of television has arrived with this expansive Samsung 4K Ultra HD screen. Display 4K content at 4x the resolution of Full HD, plus upscale all of your current TV shows and movies in amazing detail.

Product description

Style:TV
|
Size:65-Inch

Experience real world resolution with the Samsung Smart HU8550 UHD TV. The U8550 includes exclusive technology that delivers incredibly lifelike 4K UHD picture quality. Watch any movie, sport, disc or streaming app at 4 times the resolution of full HD with UHD Upscaling.

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I am not affiliated with Samsung or CNET.[Side Note: I believe Samsung should provide free 2014 One connect boxes to F9000 owners because of the H265 codec, Google's superior VP9 codec, and HDMI 2.0 as a gesture of good faith toward early adopters.]

This review will help you get the most out of your HU8550. I won't waste your time listing all the specs.

I am posting here because some people badmouthed and down rated the Samsung F9000 because they did not know how to use it. I do not want the same thing to happen to this excellent TV. I have last year's top-of-the-line F9000 4K model which is virtually the exact same TV as this, released only 5 months earlier. Only the Smart Hub software and HDMI ports changed.

I cannot believe how absolutely amazing the picture is. It's colors explode, it's blacks are black, it's whites are white, flesh tones are real, and all of it is super sharp. With newscasts or interviews, people look like they're sitting right in front of you. It's almost scarey. Aerial shots and night shots of cities will blow you away. You cannot ask for a better picture. And that's not just my opinion, read all of the professional reviews. Every single one of them love this TV.

NOTICE: Do not worry about 4K content not being available. This TV upscales. It has to because the screen is made of 3840 X 2160 pixels. Go to [....] and check the US news section. I quote it in the comments section. The upscaling of Samsung's Quadmatic Picture Engine works wonders, especially with anything in HD (1080P). It also works fine with SD material but not as well because upscaling works with the material it starts with. That's what it scales up. I can honestly tell you that I do not want a sharper picture than this. You can see every facial feature including eyelashes. Blu Rays and 4K YouTube's will make you cry. Pause the picture anywhere, even get close to it, and be amazed.

Any person giving this TV anything less than five stars reveals their own foolishness for not setting it up, or they got a weird factory defect. You have to set it up(calibrate it for your room). If you are a newbie to electronics you have three options.

1. Learn how to set it up and you'll love it. It is very easy.(I will help you in this post).2. If you're too lazy, don't buy a piece of high-quality electronic equipment like this. You don't deserve it.3. Pay someone to calibrate it for you. Actually that's a waste of money because in 20 minutes you can easily do it yourself with this post. You can make this TV look anyway you want it to look. Which is why comparisons in stores are superfluous unless you make all settings equal between the TVs.

Out of the box the picture looks disappointing , that's Samsung's fault, although most manufacturers do the same thing for the retail store lighting. When I first turned on this TV it looked like a soap opera or documentary. I knew this was not right.

Because I researched the F9000 (same internals as Hu8550) I knew what to do. The first thing to do is go to the System menu, scroll to the Eco-Solution Submenu, and turn OFF the accursed eco-saving feature and eco-sensor.

CNET has evaluators that are among the best in the industry. A professional named Katzmaier uses $30,000 worth of equipment to calibrate these TVs. Don't know if I can post links here, so search for CNET's HDTV picture settings forum forUN65f9000 or HU8550-a bit early for this as of this date. (The 55 inch versions take the same calibrations.)

However, there's one problem with their settings. They calibrate their TVs in a dark room. Therefore their brightness levels are way too low. They acknowledge this, but it is a necessary starting point and equalizer for the different models. No problem, use Samsung's default settings for Movie and set Backlight to their setting(12). It worked great with gamma at +1. The first thing you want to do is set it to Movie mode, which is what CNET uses. Play with other modes later.

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The settings I'm about to list are based on Katzmaier's from CNET(get them and print them out) with some tweaks of my own made by going between his and the Samsung defaults. Do that, that's safe. If you set your TV to these, you will love the picture. If not, tweak it for yourself somewhere between his settings and the defaults.

It is very easy, so don't freak out. If you can turn your volume control up and down you can change your settings. The settings have a combined effect, so do not just do one area.

HOW TO SET A FANTASTIC PICTURE AND REMOVE MOTION BLURR/Judder:

Picture menu - Use all Samsung's defaults for Movie mode with a slight color tweakmode: Movie - the most important change.backlight: 12 - CNET's setting of 7 is way too low unless you are in a really dark room. We use lamps at my house. Backlight is the main brightness control

contrast: 95 - pretty standard for most modesbrightness: 45 - leave this alonesharpness: 20 - CNET setting of 0 Is WAY too low, especially for a 4K TVcolor: 52 0r 53 - a slight tweak over 50 that will give you more of a richer plasma TV qualitytint: 50/50 - leave this alone

I discovered the real trick for getting the correct lighting level for your room is to work with gamma and backlight, not brightness. Samsung's default is 45 for all modes, and it's right.

Advanced Settings Click it for the submenu

dynamic contrast: offflesh tone: zeroRGB only mode: offcolor space: custom - there is a submenu for this below.

White balance: SEE BELOW. Click it to get into it.10 P white balance: - you don't need to mess with this.Gamma: +1 --this is an important setting and affects the entire picture, not just contrast.Expert pattern: offmotion lighting: offblack enhancer: off

Color Space SubmenuI recommend keeping everything at default rather than using the ones from CNET. However, I do not like the cold (bluer)picture of LEDs as compared to plasma or my old Pioneer elite 98 which had the best picture ever in its day and even for today except for sharpness. Therefore I change the blue setting to this:blue: red 2, green 2, blue 45. Not drastic changes over 0, 0, 50 but it's warmer and prettier.Leave yellow at the default, or change the yellow setting to have less blue than the CNET settingyellow: red 50, green 50, blue 6 (Katzmaier had blue at 14, that's too much)

WHITE BALANCE - use all of the Katzmaier's settings: 25, 24, 22, 23, 24, 26EDIT: Thanks to James Goss who says:For the 8550, the white balance numbers range from -25 to +25, with 0 being the defaults. So your figures equate to 0, -1, -3, -2, -1, +1.

Explanation -- Goss is saying that the default for the 8550 is zero (0), whereas my F9000 has a default of 25. That means you either leave it at zero where I had 25, or go plus/minus whatever digits are equivalent, i.e. -1 for 24, +1 for 26, or whatever. The total range is 25 changes in either direction, but you won't need that full range. It's NOT complicated.

System Menu. As already mentioned go to the eco-solution submenu and shut off energy-saving and eco-sensors. They will knock your picture into dismal oblivion at will.

Sound menu: For a TV, the sound can be good, but the default sound is horribly muddy as are all of the choices except Clear Voice. The high frequencies are weak, and you should never expect good bass from any TV. Go into the Sound menu and set to Clear Voice if you sometimes watch without your stereo system.

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GREAT INTERFACE FEATURES:

This TV works great with Smart Hub and smart phones, tablets, or Blu Ray, especially for Samsung products. Other Android and Apple products should be compatible, but I can't speak for them. I am a Samsung Galaxy XX fan myself.

You can wirelessly stream from TV to Phone or tablet with the Samsung Smart View app, and your phone functions as a remote. It works! However, get the app for your phone manufacturer. Don't expect Samsung's app to work on a different phone.

You can wirelessly stream from Phone/tablet to TV by setting your TV Source to Mirror, and your device to Mirror in your settings >connections, and allow the connection. You do not need to register the TV and agree to Samsung's invasion of privacy policy. If you go through the YouTube app on the TV it even asks you if you want to mirror. Search for some YouTubes to see how to set these up. It's too long to include here.

You can also wirelessly view pics, video.etc, from your phone on the TV by enabling the DLNA device connection on your phone and going into Smart Hub Picture/video section (up top, far right, go to the bottom and select all files, and enable the connection. It's easy.

You can also use a hardwire HDMI connection for any of the above but why bother.

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Complaint Section1. Samsung - Stop defeating your own purpose with the horrible original settings. I want a free 2014 One connect box and it needs VP9 not just H265.

2. People do not want the ridiculous hand controls that only work half the time at best, or the worthless voice controls the get activated by the TV program you're watching. Thanks for the great picture though, stick with what matters.

3. Your privacy policy stinks. I want to be able to interface my devices without doing your lousy Samsung All Share/ now Samsung Link that makes me agree to privacy policies that promise you NO privacy, and sit a Samsung representative in your living room every time you watch the TV. NO Thanks.

NOTICE *** 2 WAY WIRELESS STREAMING:In all fairness to Samsung, the Smart View App in the Android Play store does let you wirelessly stream content from the TV to your device without registering with Samsung Link. That's great.

EDIT: Samsung changed the Smart View App so do not update it if you have the old one. It is now useless.

They are using Watch-on. Although I don't like all the extra junk it does, you can still stream live TV. Unfortunately they foolishly did not include a top tab to easily activate streaming. !?! You have to dig into settings on your tablet or phone, and activate the TV you want to stream from. Streaming to my Galaxy Tab S had about a six second delay, which is OK since it is using Wi-Fi, but it still choked up a lot, pausing for no reason and then picking up despite a good Wi-Fi connection on both the TV and the tablet. So Watch-On, still needs some more work.

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Why you should get this TV1. Best picture of any TV on the market from the largest TV manufacturer on the market. I sometimes pause the program just to look at it.

2. It is future proof. Because it is 4K, the screen is capable of outstanding resolution for a long time to come. There's another great benefit - the Evolution kit. HOWEVER, this TV write up by Samsung and thus Amazon is unclear.It comes with the built in evolution Kit but NOT the One connect box. To get that, you have to get the HU9000 model which costs more money, and has a useless curved screen. However, the write up infers One-connect future upgrades. This TV is One Connect READY according to Samsung. My guess is that they will upgrade this unit and all 4K units with one, One-connect for all, but see below.

3. It really looks elegant.

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What about this new 2014 8550 compared to last years 4K F9000?

If you can save a pile of money, then hurry and get the F 9000 before they sell out. Amazon's price and service are both good and you save around $500. The picture, CPU, memory, everything will be the same as the F9000 which is only 5 months older, and clear motion rate is the same. Its true. HDTVvs.com has a comparison and the main difference is the smart hub software. You can save $500.00 and get a 4K blu-Ray with the diff.

EDIT AFTER PRICE DROP: On the other hand, if the prices are the same, the decision is tougher, but you should probably go with the newer model even though it is almost the same.

Back on the other hand, F9000 has two advantages. The One-connect box is a separate unit that houses the CPU, memory, main board, firmware, and smart TV software. This is better than the evolution kit in the HU8550. A true One connect box is still on the H9000, but it costs more.

The One Connect box that separates from the screen itself is better because you get new connection ports, less heat build up for a longer lasting screen, and you have less cable clutter. If you know anything about computers or electronics, you know that the CPU, memory, and motherboard generate the most heat and eventually cause the units to fail. Mine is a few feet under the screen, you can touch it and feel the heat, although it is more of a high warm than hot.

The One-connect box is a genius idea that Samsung should employ for all of its TVs, and so should every other manufacturer of high-end TVs. The 8550 is "One connect ready" for future updates but for now its evolution kit is on the TV. So it is not really a big deal either way.

The second reason: The 8550 base is nowhere near as stable or as cool looking as the arch base on the F9000.

Although the 8550 model does do 4 screens, this is not with 4 channels, but 4 different inputs. Which isn't really needed. Updates to Smart hub are superfluous compared to the F9000.

Bottom line: Both TVs are spectacular and as soon as you get new one connect boxes, they will be the same. Be sure to set it up right and anyone you show this TV to will pick up their jaw off the floor. You will love the picture and the features. You will also save big time over the HU9000 with its gimmick curved screen.

I purchased a HU8550 65' TV about 1 month ago and started to notice MAJOR bleeding on the screen, IR emitter not working, and the the TV randomly rebooting. I immediately contacted Samsung. I asked if they could just replace the set. They created a support call and the OUTSOURCED company came out and notice all the issues. The support person even commented on how bad the bleeding was on this set, but he said he would need to send back pictures to Samsung so that they could evaluate if they need to replace/fix the screen. After 3 days the outsourced company called back and said Samsung has decided that the TV set screen was operating within Specs, I had attached the pictures so you can all judge for yourself (the background is supposed to be all black). Then Samsung closed the case and have said they will not fix it the issue, and they didn’t even fix the IR or the rebooting problem. I am shocked at how customer service at Samsung has handled this. I called back to service to reopen the case for fixing the rebooting and IR, and the case was closed after 3 hours with out any action. I have 10 different samsung electronics products from phones,tablets,monitors but now I would never recommend anyone to buy from Samsung if this is how they treat there customers. Now I am stuck with a TV set that is about a month old that reboot and that displays a picture that is WORSE than my 6 year old TV!!!!!

I know that I am late to the party with this review and that a lot has been covered in the many reviews here. Therefore I will just weigh in with a few key (mostly relatively non-technical) points, my personal assessments, and settings advice.

Flat Screen versus Curved choice:

For me it was easy. I spent a lot of time in stores comparing the curved to flat screens. My conclusion was that there could be some "perceived" benefit to viewing a curved screen, but in order to enjoy that benefit you must sit very centered with the screen. As soon as you go just slightly off axis of center, any benefit was lost (in my opinion), and as you went further off center, it turned into a disadvantage. Based on this and other reasons, I further concluded that a curved screen should only even be considered if you are using a screen size of at least 75 inches. Factor in cost and it became a no-brainer to stick with flat screens.

Unfortunately for their 2015 lineup, Samsung puts most of the focus on curved screens again(see further reading links at the bottom). If you want a flat screen, I don't see any sense in paying a premium for a 2015 model unless you consider another brand, such as Sony, which does not do the curved screen "gimmick" (as I consider it).

I bought two of these TVs in two different sizes (during Black Friday deals), and then in the summer of 2015 I bought the 75 inch size (which is a feast for the eyes and I highly recommend if you have the space). I also have Samsung's 2011 top model (Samsung UN55D8000), which was their flagship that year and considered by many as their best picture quality in an LCD panel until 4k came out. When I got this new TV, I placed it side by side (using HDMI spliter) with the older 2011 one to closely compare differences over a few weeks of viewing.

Here is what I saw (settings differences aside):

Overall: The 2014 4K model is capable of producing a much better range of colors which to me look a lot more accurate and realistic. Skin especially looks more real and natural. Screen uniformity is also very noticeably improved with this model. Black levels can get a little better too with the right settings (there are trade-offs if you push those too much).

Cable viewing: Other than color, etc mentioned above, improvement can only be seen up close. The most noticeable is the lack of any "screen door" with the 4K TV (this means the tiny black lines in between the pixels). Because of the 4K panel, when you are very close, the picture can take on the quality of an oil painting. As you back away though, this becomes less noticeable until (depending on your vision) it is not noticeable at all. Yes, there are often lots of artifacts in the picture, depending on the source.

Blu-rays - Blu-rays look excellent on this TV, but they also look excellent on the 2011 HD TV. Is there a difference (other than those pertaining to "screen door" noted above)? The fact that I even have to ask, and struggle to find them, means that any differences are pretty small. Whatever improvements there are may have more to do with other aspects of the set (color, black levels, contrast, etc.) rather than just the upgrade to 4K up-scaling resolution. But at least you know that those artifacts that you saw while watching cable are not the TV's fault.

4K Material (streamed or files): This is where the TV really shines without question. With good source material (downloaded demos or streams from You-tube, Netflix, etc.), you can see what this TV is really capable of, and therefore will know that whatever short-comings you saw and disappointments you had while viewing other material were due to the source and NOT the TV's lack of capability.

SOUND happens to be a bit better on the older 2011 model. I think this is because the newer set is thinner, so they had to use smaller speakers to fit inside. This is no big deal if you are using external sound, which you should as sound is never great coming from t.v. speakers.

-SETTINGS-

FIRST off, as soon as you get this TV, you NEED to turn off the ECO SENSOR. It is on by default. What it does is slowly lower your back-light giving you the illusion that you are losing your vision! Go to SETTINGS, scroll down to ECO SOLUTION, then turn off ENERGY SAVINGS and ECO SENSOR.

SETTINGS are a VERY PERSONAL thing. Using your settings you can vastly change how your screen looks. It can go from washed out or muddy looking to an "eye-burning" vivid. Some people want bright colors that "pop", while others want a calibrated picture that is as accurate and as life-like as possible. Others (myself included) tend towards something in-between.

I SUGGEST setting your TV up with TWO or even THREE different sets of settings with your different PICTURE MODES. This lets you have the best of all worlds! It is already set up for this of course- you have Dynamic, Natural, Standard and Movie modes each with their factory default settings. You just need to change the defaults to how you want them, and get into the habit of switching between these two or three sets of settings depending on what you are watching, who is watching, or your mood.

I mainly use two sets of settings - one for MOVIES and another for EVERYTHING ELSE. I personally don't watch a lot of SPORTS. If you do, you might want a third set of settings with the motion settings that are optimized for sports and fast action.

MOVIE SETTINGS to many people's eyes appear "washed out" or muted. There is not a lot of "pop" to the picture and the color tones are warm (yellowish looking). This is because the goal is to use as realistic colors as possible (the way the film-maker intended, which should also be close to life-like). I do believe that we should watch movies this way. The problem is that many people's eyes haven gotten accustomed to much more vivid pictures when they look at their TVs and other screens in their home, so when they look at the TV using these settings they think, "what the heck is wrong with my picture?". You can read it in some of the reviews and comments right here. Some use these recommended settings or the factory movie settings and remark that their picture is muddy looking and they had better return the TV otherwise they just wasted a couple grand on a lousy looking TV especially since their old one looks better.

Thus my suggestion to use different sets of settings for different types of viewing or different people doing the viewing.

Excellent MOVIE SETTINGS are posted around in many places so I wont repeat them here. Of course you should use your MOVIE picture mode and edit the defaults. You can go to FALCON's review right here and use those settings as a great starting point. Then make tweaks according your own taste. I use mostly those same settings for my movie mode with a few tweaks that I like. The most important thing of course is that YOU like the picture, not following what anyone else says. Here is ONE IMPORTANT NOTE to keep in mind though: Any time you change settings, you need to give it some time. Live with it for a while before making a final judgement. What you think looks horrible right away might be something that you prefer after some time with it. Think about this too the next time you read someone talking about their TV "breaking-in".

For EVERYTHING ELSE (newscasts, sitcoms, etc.), I came up with my own set of settings mostly by trial and error. I use these in the STANDARD picture mode. I also used my 2011 TV that I was already happy with as a guide. I feel that the settings that I use are a compromise between "torch settings" (overly vivid and unnatural) and a dull, washed-out looking picture. I am going to post them here below in case anyone wants to try them out. If you think that your settings are washed out you may want to try these on your standard setting (you can always easily revert back to defaults). If you do try them, please comment and let me know your experience.

I have also tweaked my natural and dynamic modes, but again mainly just use the standard and movie. I am currently fine tuning my Natural mode to see if I can come up with something especially suited for 4k nature videos and such. If you watch a lot of sports, you might set up your Dynamic mode for fast action by experimenting with the motion settings.

-My STANDARD settings (some are defaults):-

Back-light - This should be adjusted according to what YOU like and the lighting in your room. You might change it according to day/night if you have windows in the room. I mainly keep mine between 10-16. (12 Would be a good starting point)Contrast - 99Brightness - 45 (default)Sharpness - 20Color - 50 (default) (you should play with this, go up and down 1 or 2, pay attention to flesh tones)Tint - G50/R50 (default)

Remember, settings are very subjective. All that matters is finding what YOU like since you are the one watching the TV. Mine are simply a suggestion.

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Bottom Line: I love the TV and have zero regrets about the purchase. I do wish that there was more 4K material to enjoy in order to REALLY be able to take advantage of what it is capable of. For most everything else, it is an upgrade, but not a monumental one.

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* Further Reading:

What is UPP? Or, why do TVs cost the same at every store?http://www.cnet.com/news/what-is-upp-or-why-do-tvs-cost-the-same-at-every-store/